1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus that can be utilized for thermal analysis, e.g., for analyzing temperature distribution across a piston in an internal combustion engine, and more specifically, to a method and an apparatus for thermal analysis using a response surface method.
2. Description of the Background Art
When performing thermal analysis, e.g., as shown in Japanese Patent Document JP-A-11-118740, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference, an experimental formula for calculating a heat transfer coefficient of a heat transfer boundary on which natural convection heat transfer occurs is automatically selected depending on various conditions. A temperature value on the heat transfer boundary assumed for determining the heat transfer coefficient is obtained automatically by repetitive calculation while keeping consistence with the temperature of the heat transfer boundary obtained by a measure such as finite element method (FEM), or finite difference method.